Editor's Note

The Charge

To leave the nest, some men just need a little push.

Opening Statement

Upon first glance of the back of this case, I thought Stephen Holden's quote
said that "McConaughey and Parker are well matched…the movie is witty
and romantically CHALLENGED." Turns out it says charged instead, indicating
some form of chemistry or cinematic allure. Does Failure to Launch have
all of this and more, and is it worth adding to the queue?

Facts of the Case

Written by Tom Astle and Matt Ember (Get
Smart), and directed by Tom Dey (Showtime), Tripp (Matthew McConaughey, Dazed and Confused) drives a Porsche
and spends a lot of time outdoors with his friends Ace (Justin Bartha, National Treasure) and Demo
(Bradley Cooper, Wedding
Crashers). He also lives with his parents Al (Terry Bradshaw, Cannonball
Run) and Sue (Kathy Bates, About
Schmidt). Al and Sue are starting to grow tired of him though and want to
live out their days together, so they hire Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker, The Family Stone) to start dating Tripp,
with the hope that if the relationship pans out, Tripp will have gained the
self-confidence he needs to move out of the house and start his life. Things get
complicated, of course, when Paula starts to fall for Tripp. How will things pan
out for the film and the global war on terror in the next 96 minutes?

The Evidence

It's funny that there's a growing group of people that wonder if McConaughey
lives the life of his most famous character, Dave Wooderson. And I think that in
Failure to Launch, he gets as close as he's gotten to date. He has no
responsibility, enjoys doing a lot of cool stuff like eating crabs powdered in
Old Bay seasoning, or sailing on pretty elaborate boats. Even though Wooderson
may sound a little like Pauly Shore at times, he's a nice enough guy in this
role. In this film, it's a little bit funny though, as McConaughey is supposed
to leave his Mom and Dad, yet he innocently falls in love with someone who's old
enough to be his mother.

The film itself has so many telegraphed moments in it that it's not even
funny. The first act ends around the half-hour mark and the second around the
hour mark; each ends with an interesting situation designed to advance a
character. OK, I maybe made that last part up, since the characters are pretty
boring. Even the stuff that's designed to either bring an uproarious laugh or
tug at the heartstrings does neither. Bates showed her behind in About Schmidt, so Bradshaw shows his in
this film. In high definition, you could almost make out the injection spots
from the cortisone during his pro football playing days, but otherwise, it's
enough to put someone off dairy for quite awhile. Bates is charming enough as a
rule, but in this film, she seems to occasionally channel the spirit of Bobby
Boucher's mom in The Waterboy, while
otherwise wondering what she's doing in this film.

Speaking of people who are a little bit out of place, Parker is becoming the
Ralph Macchio of the romantic comedy genre. She just turned 40, trying to play
someone a decade younger, but has hands that look two decades older than that.
In the "best friend" role is Zooey Deschanel, who was 26 when this
film came out, and to see Parker next to Deschanel is to see fresh oranges
sitting next to ones that have been out for a few months. It's increasingly
clear when you watch this film that someone younger was lined up to play the
part of Paula (maybe a Rachael McAdams type), but they were busy doing
challenging stuff and passed. As for McConaughey, I'm sure the paycheck helps to
subsidize another couple of trips to Africa for him, so in this case, I'm more
interested in what he did with the money than what he did on the film
itself.

In terms of transfers, this 1080p MPEG-2 encoded transfer really doesn't add
much in the way of general enjoyment. The grain is prevalent through most of the
film, but the problem in the presentation is that the number of scenes that
illustrate the depth and detail on Blu-ray are scarce. The Dolby Digital 5.1
soundtrack is also a disappointment too, with scenes of music that don't pan
through to other speakers, and a movie so light in sonic dynamics your subwoofer
will have a little lie down. All in all, it makes me wonder why it's another
release on both platforms. Wait, I can figure that out: if someone who paid
several hundred dollars for a Blu-ray player can suggest watching this on
Blu-ray or HD-DVD to their better half, it'll be a perfect excuse when they go
and get Superman Returns or
something else down the road. I get it now. The extras come over from the
standard definition version and, on a side note, the menus are problematic to
negotiate. You can highlight the extra or the section of the disc and hit enter,
but you can't see what you've selected until you hit "Enter." So the
apathy is pervasive in the production of the disc, too. Terrific.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

I've got to share some local, or more accurately regional, concern here. It
was nice to see this film filmed on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, as it's
someplace that Mrs. Keefer and I frequent a bit. As the film went on, though,
the location changed more and more to the New Orleans area. Now that's fine and
good, but at least take some time and pay some attention to detail to make it a
little more seamless. Seeing Louisiana signs on the baseball field, in the
house, and the boats make it seem like no one cares. And when the viewer is
spending more time figuring out when the location changes than on the actual
film itself, what does that tell you?

Closing Statement

Like the wife of Judge David Johnson, you're probably better off seeing How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, or spending
your time writing the Great American Novel. As it stands, this movie is as
pointless, humorless, and tired as they come, and I hope that the studios
realize that the romcom genre is dying on the vine from the drought of real
invigoration or creativity. Get back to the drawing board and put together
something decent and I'm sure people will go see or rent it. They should do
neither here.

The Verdict

Guilty as charged. Those involved with the production should spend the time
living with their parents until they realize that films like this are a waste of
time and money.

Distinguishing Marks

• "Casting Off: The Making of Failure to Launch"
• "The Failure to Launch Phenomenon"
• "Dating in the New Millennium"
• Moviefone.com Unscripted with Matthew McConaughey and Terry Bradshaw
• The Failure to Launch Contest
• Trailer